Construction at old QuikTrip site in Ferguson nearing completion

The old QuikTrip building that was burned down during the riots in Ferguson is getting closer to completion with a May 2017 grand opening.

QuikTrip donated the site to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. The organization has since made moves to turn it into a community resource center.

“We grew the building twice because there was so much desire for other partners and people to be in the building with us so it grew from about 4-to-5,000 square feet to now 13,500 square feet,” said Michael McMillan, Urban League President and CEO.

McMillan said the Salvation Army will co-own the building, which will house six agencies altogether, including the University of Missouri extension program, the Lutheran church, Providence mental health counseling and Better Family life.

The services they hope to provide range from job training, education programs, to youth services like scholarship opportunities. The main focus is promoting self-sufficiency.

“Over the past two years we’ve seen that poverty has gone from the city to the county as well and we have a number of people in north St. Louis County specifically that are definitely in need of our services,” McMillan said.

He added that restoring the site has some symbolism.

“We want this building to be a thing that’s rising out of the ashes of improvement and showing the community, not only in St. Louis but across the country and around the world that Ferguson is moving in the right direction. We’ve learned from our mistakes, we are making some progress and we still have work to do,” he said.